


A Hundred Strokes

by dreamiflame



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: 5 Times, Bonding, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hair Brushing, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-21 21:50:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7406236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamiflame/pseuds/dreamiflame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Luke brushed Leia's hair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hundred Strokes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [songstress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/songstress/gifts).



> Thanks to my beta for making this better quickly when I decided to write a last minute treat.

1.

Yavin 4 was in upheaval. Some of the ships primarily used for cargo had been filled and sent off to the new base, and the rest of the equipment and personnel would follow the next day.

Leia was exhausted. Between the emotional highs and lows of the past few days, and after the strenuous, mind-numbing work of packing, she was more than ready to retire to her quarters.

She changed into her sleep clothes, and let down her hair. Leia knew it was a silly old tradition, brushing her hair a hundred times before braiding it to sleep, but the ritual helped calm and settle her.

The door chimed as she reached thirty-seven. “Come in,” she called, and Luke stepped into her room.

“Oh,” he said, as she said his name. “I’m sorry. I’ll let you sleep.”

He looked crushed, just as he had when they’d first escaped the Death Star, and Obi-Wan Kenobi had sacrificed himself for them. Leia put the brush down and stood up, catching Luke’s hand and pulling him inside.

There were probably people who would try to tell her a Princess shouldn’t let a farm boy she barely knew into her bedroom. Those people didn’t know her very well.

“Luke, what’s wrong?” she asked.

Luke looked down, as though her floor was some other place and time. “I was helping pack the effects of the pilots who didn’t make it back, and I found Biggs’ quarters.”

Biggs. Luke had spoken to that pilot several times during his attack run, and in the end-

“You knew Biggs before?” Leia asked, and Luke nodded. Another friend lost, then.

Leia had lost her entire world in one day. From little things she had gathered, Luke’s had gone piece by piece over nearly a week.

No wonder he looked lost.

It was a crazy idea, but Leia was tired, and she was hurting, too. “Do you want to brush my hair?”

Luke looked at her like she was insane, then seemed to take in that her hair was down. It was probably a silly thing to be vain about, but Leia knew she had pretty hair, and people admired it. 

“I’ve never brushed a girl’s hair before,” he said after a long moment

It wasn’t no, and that was enough for her. “Sit on the bed.”

He sat and Leia pulled the chair from her vanity over and sat in front of him. 

The first dozen strokes were awful. Luke kept getting his other hand in the way, or pulling too hard, or missing her hair entirely. Leia stayed patient and gave him simple, clear instructions, and gradually his strokes became long and smooth.

He was still awkward, not used to lifting the section he was working on to lessen the pull on her scalp, but he could definitely be taught.

Her mind wandered as she relaxed, and Leia was a little surprised when Luke said “One hundred,” and put the brush down. 

Leia absently reached up and started braiding her hair for sleep, turning so she could see Luke again. “Feel better?”

“Yes,” he said, sounding surprised. “That was nice.” He smiled at her, and Leia felt like the sun had come out. “Thanks, Leia. It’s nice to feel connected to someone again.”

“It is,” she said, and tied off her hair. “Think you can sleep now? We have a busy day tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” he said, and got up. “Sleep well, Leia.”

He left, and Leia put her brush and the vanity chair away. It was strange, since they’d only met a few days before, but she felt oddly attached to Luke. Like they’d known each other all their lives.

Leia shook it off and went to bed. The Rebellion needed her rested, not distracted.

2.

It felt like everything that could go wrong was going wrong on Hoth. The planet had been way down on the list of possible bases, but the Empire had stepped up their hunting, and the Alliance was running out of choices.

But it was hard to regulate the temperature in the base so things stayed dry but people didn’t freeze. The speeders were having trouble with the cold. And worst of all they had to keep the tauntauns inside so the whole herd didn’t freeze to death at night, and everyone was complaining about the smell.

Leia shut her quarters door behind her and leaned against it, wishing it swung so she could slam it to relieve at least some of her frustration. She’d thought she’d known what she was getting into when she stepped into more of a leadership role in the Rebellion, but she’d underestimated the number of minor things people wanted her input on.

She took a deep breath and tried to release her frustration out with it as she moved further into her room. She found her sleep clothes and her hair brush, and cleaned her teeth and face at the sink. Then the chime sounded at the door, and Leia half screamed in annoyance and threw her toothpaste across the room.

She took three deep, slow breaths, then moved to the door, picking up the toothpaste on the way. When she opened the door, she was composed and ready to be authoritative or helpful as needed.

“Hi,” said Luke, and smiled at her, though Leia could read his exhaustion in the slump of his shoulder and the dark circles under his eyes. Luke had been a big help, offering to unpack and set up various equipment, organizing the ships, and volunteering to go on patrol outside. He’d been running just as much as she had, and she felt some of her irritation melt away at the very sight of him. 

“Can I come in?”

Leia stepped back and let him in, then turned to put the toothpaste away. When she came back into the main room, the chair from her vanity was in the center of the floor, and Luke was holding her hairbrush. Leia felt her mouth turn up in a smile and didn’t even try to resist it.

They didn’t do this terribly often, but since that first time the last night on Yavin, on hard days she and Luke would seek one another out at the end of the day, and he would brush her hair.

After the day she’d had, Leia couldn’t think of anything nicer. She pulled her hair pins out, gave her head a shake to free her hair from the bun she’d worn all day, and sat in the chair.

Luke lifted her hair and gave the bottom six inches ten or so strokes to make sure there were no knots, then started the hundred strokes. Leia closed her eyes and let herself drift.

“I can’t get over how cold it is here,” Luke said, and Leia made a listening noise. “This is such a change from Tatooine.”

“Do you miss it?” Leia asked.

Several long, smooth strokes before Luke answered. He ran his free hand along her scalp and Leia sighed, feeling the tension seep out of her.

“I miss my aunt and uncle,” Luke said. “I miss Biggs and seeing my other friends when we weren’t too busy. I don’t miss the sand, or the heat, or the work.” He rubbed the back of Leia’s neck just below her skull, and her head fell back into his hands. Luke gave her a small smile. “I miss watching the suns set, though.”

“I miss my family,” Leia said, lifting her head up so Luke could continue brushing her hair. “Not just my father and mother, but the guards and my companions. Winter was off planet, so she’s fine, but I still don’t know if Sabé was on Alderaan or not.” She didn’t mention the others she knew hadn’t made it - they were just names to Luke, and it only made her sad.

“Did they used to brush your hair, too?” Luke asked. She must have lost count, because Leia was surprised when he put the brush down and started sectioning out her hair for braiding. His braids were still awkward and lopsided, but he was getting better with practice.

“My mother did, sometimes, and Winter and I used to practice taking care of each other’s hair. Sabé was the best, though.” She smiled, thinking of the bodyguard with such a gentle touch with hair. “She used to work for a queen, the servants said, but she would never talk about it.”

“I hope she made it,” Luke said, and tied off the braid. “I think that’s my best yet.”

Leia ran her fingers down her hair. Still lopsided, but getting better. “Thank you for coming by,” she said to Luke, and he hugged her.

“Sleep well, Princess,” he grinned and left her alone. Leia changed into her sleep clothes, feeling warm at heart despite the cold.

3.

The medical droids let them leave the med center, and Leia took Luke’s left hand and led him down the corridors to her quarters. Behind her, the droids clanked along, Threepio’s scolding a familiar backdrop to Leia’s thoughts.

They’d nearly died. Leia’d been kidnapped and tortured, and Luke had fought Vader at the cost of a hand.

And they’d lost Han.

Leia turned her thoughts away from that. She needed to feel better, not start crying. She still had Luke.

She settled Luke on her bed, and sent the droids to go recharge. When she turned back from the door, Luke was staring at his right hand.

His prosthetic right hand. It looked the same, and had been the same familiar weight on her shoulder earlier, but it was different, and Luke was staring at it.

“It feels like it still hurts. In my head, I mean,” he said, and Leia moved to her vanity to pick up her brush before she sat down next to him. “I’ve never felt so much pain before.”

When Darth Vader sliced it off. Leia held in a shiver. What Luke had been through was going to haunt her nightmares for a while.

At least she’d saved him. Leia didn’t know what she would have done if she had lost both Luke and Han on the same day.

“I’m glad I found you. It was like I could hear you, in my mind,” and that had been, hands down, the strangest feeling Leia had ever had. And yet at the same time, it had felt somehow, natural. Normal, like the logical extension of the instant connection she’d felt to Luke.

“I used the Force,” Luke says. He’d explained a little about where he’d been, and about his training. “It was… easy, reaching out to you.”

Leia nodded, though she knew she didn’t really understand, and handed him her brush. Luke looked at it, then shook his head. “No, I don’t want to accidentally pull your hair or something.”

“Your hand works _fine_ ,” Leia told him, and turned her back to him. Luke picked her hair up with his left hand, hesitated, then took the first stroke. It was a poor one, not enough speed or pressure, but Leia knew that was because he was unsure. “You’ve pulled my hair before, and I’ve survived. I’ll survive if you do it now.”

The next few strokes were better. “I think you’ll survive everything, Leia. I hope so, anyway.”

Leia pressed her lips together, and didn’t say anything. It was getting harder for her, to be so drawn to such different men. Luke was like sunshine and home, and Han was dangerous and exciting, and she loved them both. Why did she have to choose?

And she couldn’t choose now, not with Han captured and taken off for a bounty. Luke wouldn’t like feeling as though he’d won her by default, and neither of them were ready to give up on Han.

Luke seemed to sense her turmoil, because he stayed silent as he finished brushing her hair and lifted it to braid. And maybe his Force training had been good for something, because when he tied it off and Leia felt it, the braid was just as good as one of hers.

Luke pulled her back to rest against his chest, and Leia put her head on his shoulder and listened to the strong steady beat of his heart. Any other time, he would be pulling away now, ready to let her sleep, but Leia didn’t want that tonight.

If she had nightmares, she wanted a familiar, friendly face there when she woke up.

“Can I stay?” Luke asked, echoing Leia’s thoughts. “Nothing funny, I just…” he held up his new hand, and Leia laced her fingers with his. “I don’t want to be alone,” Luke said, voice soft, and his fingers squeezed hers.

“I don’t want to be alone, either,” she said, and not caring what rumors might start from it, she curled up with Luke, still holding his new hand. Leia slept, her braid draped over both of them like a rope binding them together, and did not have dark dreams.

4.

The party on Endor was starting to wind down when Leia got up from speaking with one of the pilots and looked around the clearing.

Shara Bey grinned up at her and toasted Leia with some of the Ewoks’ berry wine. “Have a good night, Princess,” she slurred and took a gulp of the wine. Leia smiled at her and headed off, looking at the different groups scattered around.

Most of the Ewoks had long since returned to their homes and beds, but here and there she saw one sprawled in a group of aliens and humans, almost all of whom were drifting off. Lando and Han were both snoring against Chewie’s side, but the Wookiee opened his eyes as she approached and gave a low, inquiring hoot.

Her Shyriiwook was still patchy, but she thought she understood his meaning. “I’m fine, Chewie. Just looking for Luke.” He had wandered off again a while ago, after Leia had let herself be distracted by Shara and Wedge and the tale of the assault on the Death Star. She had also accepted a few too many cups of berry wine and other spirits the pilots had brought to the party to share.

Once she’d realized Luke had vanished, she’d stopped drinking, and she was no more than a little light headed now that she was searching for her brother.

Chewbacca gave a low growl and pointed to one of the rope and plank paths. Leia smiled at him. “Thanks,” she said, and went the way Chewie had indicated.

She could feel Luke before she saw him, his familiar bright sunshine soul guiding her to him. Leia still wasn’t sure she could ever be a Jedi, but she had been able to sense Luke for a long time now.

Since Bespin, maybe before. Because of their connection, the one she’d felt as soon as her cell door opened and a short stormtrooper burst in to stare at her. A connection that had finally made perfect sense when Luke had revealed they were siblings.

“You didn’t need to leave the party,” Luke said, not turning around. Leia joined him on the platform he’d chosen and followed his line of sight. She couldn’t see anything, just shadows in a dark forest, but Luke was looking intently, like he saw an old friend.

Maybe he did. She’d heard rumors of strange things the Jedi could do with the Force.

“The party’s over, Luke.” She took his hand, and leaned her head on his shoulder. Luke rubbed his cheek along the top of her head and Leia smiled at the dark. “You missed Wedge’s story. It’s pretty good.”

Luke chuckled and freed his hand to wrap his arm around her. “I’ll hear it soon. I certainly told everyone the story of how _I_ blew up a Death Star enough times.”

This close, she could smell again the scent of wood smoke and burned plastic he’d been wearing when he joined the party before. “It’s not as exciting now that Wedge can match you?”

“It’s still exciting. Just in a different way, now.” Luke turned them away from the dark and they began walking back to the torchlit party area, his arm still warm around her shoulders. “Did you come to find me because you want your hair brushed?”

And maybe it was a ridiculous reason, but that was exactly why Leia had looked for him. “The Ewoks gave me a brush, yes. It’s not very good on my hair, but it works great on theirs.”

Luke laughed again and hugged her close. “We have the strangest rituals, sister.”

It sounded so strange but so right to have him call her that. “We’re twins, right?” Leia asked. He hadn’t mentioned it before, but she knew they were the same age. He nodded, and Leia smiled at him. Her brother. No wonder she’d been drawn to him.

No wonder she’d never been able to fully choose him over Han.

They made their way into the tiny hut the Ewoks had given her, and Luke laughed over the tiny brush made of twigs and tree needles. But his touch on her hair was sure and gentle, and Leia couldn’t stop smiling.

The Emperor was dead. Vader was dead, and her father, but she would deal with that later. They’d won, finally, and Han, Chewie and Lando were safe, the droids were safe, her other friends in the Rebellion were safe.

Luke was safe, and brushing her hair, and her twin brother. And Leia, Leia was safe, and she had family again.

For just this one, brief, shining moment, life was perfect, and Leia held it close, letting the scrape of the bristles and the occasional hum Luke gave lull her nearly to sleep.

Luke braided her hair, tucked her in, and kissed her forehead. “Stay close,” she told him, and drifted off.

5.

When the Millennium Falcon arrived at the new Resistance base three months after Rey and Chewbacca had left on their search, Leia cancelled the rest of her appointments for the day, put down her commlink, and went to go hug her brother.

He’d gone very gray, the same as she had, and he looked worn out, but the same bright twinkle sparked in his eyes when he saw her, and he hugged her just as tightly as ever.

“I’m sorry,” he said, but Leia shook her head. They were the center of attention, the Resistance General and her legendary brother the last Jedi Master, and she didn’t want to do this in public. She took his metal hand, not flinching from the cold, and led him away toward her quarters.

Finn rushed by them with a shout and scooped up Rey, and Leia felt a sense of nostalgia for all the times Luke or Han had greeted her the same way. Luke glanced over his shoulder once, but let himself be steered off.

He sat on the bed when they made it to her rooms, and Leia studied the changes time and care had wrought upon him. “You were saying?” she prompted, and Luke ducked his head, an oddly boyish gesture for a man of his age.

“I’m sorry. About Han, about Ben-” she cut him off with a shake of her head, and though he was still studying her blanket intently, Luke stopped at once.

“I missed you,” she said, because she had, this other half she’d gone twenty years without knowing. And then she’d had to learn again to live without him. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t know what to say,” Luke said, and met her eyes. “I failed them, and you and Han, and the Force. I just needed to find my way again.”

“Have you found it now?” Leia asked, and maybe it was that she wasn’t blaming him that made his shoulders relax.

Luke looked up, to the ceiling, maybe to the stars beyond it, then back at her. “I think so. Rey is amazing. Her strength in the Force is incredible.”

It was Leia’s turn to look away, and she moved over to her vanity. Same set up in her quarters, even after forty years. She picked up her brush, and looked again at Luke. 

“I could feel that about her,” she said, and offered him the brush.

He took it from her hand with the Force, and it floated over to him as she pulled the pins from her hair and shook out the bun and twists. She joined him on the bed, and it was years of this, her brother brushing her hair while they talked about what needed to be said.

“You’ll stay, and train her?” she asked, and Luke tugged a little too hard on her scalp. She hissed, and he rubbed the offending spot.

“I’ll stay,” he said, and focused on brushing. His metal joints caught a strand or two, but he freed her without pain, and Leia let herself breathe more easily than she had in a long time.

She was strong, had been even when they first met, and time had done nothing but temper her since. But still, it was a comfort to have this link back to the girl she used to be, who’d let a farm boy brush her hair to comfort them both after their worlds had ended, and their lives had begun.

There was still more fighting to do, another war to win, and another relative lost to the dark to face. With Luke at her side again, Leia knew she could still do it all.

With properly brushed, shiny hair, of course. Leia let out a breath and smiled.


End file.
